


Cross Roads: Finding Purpose

by Rydragontuseday



Series: The roads we walk [1]
Category: Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Transformers: Prime
Genre: AU History, AU timelines, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Howard Stark, BAMF Pepper Potts, Bumblebee is a little shit, Howard Stark's Good Parenting, Jack is a Little Shit, Lots of minor characters - Freeform, Most chapters are in First POV, Multi, Rhodey Is a Good Bro, Soul Bond, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony and jack are the same person, cuz I thought it would be funny, lots of AUs, more tags to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2018-07-11 02:01:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7021186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rydragontuseday/pseuds/Rydragontuseday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Originally on FF) Meet Jack Darby and his friend Rhodey, as they start their journey to protect New York city, and discover other mystery's along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The end Of the Old life

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer I do not own any of the characters other then Frank Nash, Eddie Cullin and Ryan steel, they are my babes.

Chapter 1  
"The End of the old life"  
March 1, 2009  
05:38 eastern standard time  
New York city, New York, America  
/  
/  
A pitch black room is lit up by a bright light and the sound of a welder. As the light and sound dies down we see a boy in a black shirt and blue jeans, with a welder and mask. When the welder is finally turned off the boy removes the mask and looks to the side to a young African American boy in a grey sweat shirt with white stripes on its arms, and black pants.  
"Well? What do you think?" the boy with the welder asks the other one as he walks over.  
"colorful." Smiling he turns to his friend.  
"But you know your uncle is just going to build something better to top this." Grinning down at the table now. "I mean you guys are like dueling evil scientists trying to one up each other, Jack."  
The boy now known as Jack smiles even more "not this time Rhodey." He stand strait again and jesters to the table "this one's different. He's going to freak-out when he sees this." Looking over to Rhodey "come with me to show him."  
With an irritated look Rhodey said "yeah some of us have to go to school, Jack." Pointing at him "you ever heard of it?"  
"Sounds afoul. I'll call you tonight to let you know how it went."  
Smirking Rhodey looked down to the table on last time "Uh yeah I'm holding my breath Right now." Looking down at his watch and making a show of holding his breath.  
Jake grabbed his arm and pushes him to the door "very funny now go I have to get this ready for trance port."  
Laughing the whole time "Ok, ok I'm going. See ya Jack" Grabbing his backpack off the floor and walking out the door.  
"Yeah bye." Turning to the table "now what to do about you."  
/...  
Chapter break  
/...  
New York. A big, fast moving city with a bay that is always active with boats loading and offloading cargo, and almost immediately to the left you can see a large tower right on the bay with a train station under it. This is the main headquarters of Hoffer Corporation.  
As you get closer to the building you can see the boy, Jack, from before walking into the towers main entrance with a bag over his shoulder.  
Jacks P.O.V.  
I waved to John on my way in. He looked tired more than usual but it was early so I didn't think anything of it. I walked over to the elevator and hit the 121 floor, Uncle Andrew's office and waited, listening to the elevator music, when the door opened Two minutes later I was greeted by Matt one of the head securities guards of the building.  
"Hey J, your Uncle came up about an hour ago." He said smiling.  
"Thanks Matt." I said turning Right down the hall greeting people as they walked by.  
"Morning Jack'  
"Morning Kev."  
"Hey Mack what's up"  
"Hi Carl"  
Turning Left up the small flight of stairs at the end of the hallway I saw Trish at her desk.  
"Hey Trish"  
Looking up from her computer with a grin "Well look who finally came out of his garage. You're Uncles inside Jack"  
"Thanks." I said as I opened the door to his office. The first thing I noticed was that the lights were off and the blinds on the windows closed making it dark. The only light source coming from the desk in front of the windows. A holographic projection showed pieces of advanced machines like power plants, plains, cars, and in the center was a old ring. Then I saw my uncle standing next to his desk talking in to his headset.  
"Nno go ahead and proceed with the earth movers trail run. I'll be onsite in an hour and I'll have the ring with me." He seemed to be listing to whoever he was talking to. "Good I'll see you there."  
Walking up to him I asked "Are the laser systems I Designed for the earth mover up and running yet or are you still in ancient history mod."  
As the blinds moved open and light around the room turned on He laught at the joke. "Very funny. They already completed testing on the lasers and are trying them in the field today. Want to come with me to see it?"  
I rubbed the back of my head "actually I wanted to show you something. At the testing grounds. Something big."  
He smiled "Big hum, alright lets…" He was interrupted by Obadiah Stain barging into the room fallowed by Trish. Obadiah is an ungrateful prick in my side. An all-around ass.  
"Howard!" yelled Obadiah as Trish tried to explain.  
"Its ok Trish" My uncle said. She nodded and closed the door.  
"Why did you reject my proposal for repurposing the earth movers? The military will pay good money for them once they've been modified." He stopped waving his hands around when he was done.  
"Modified? You want to turn an invention made to make people's lives better into a weapon. That's not going to happen."  
"This is insane Howard. You're costing this company and its shareholders a" My uncle cut the man off form his enraged speech.  
"A fortune. I know, But, Hoffer corp. is my company" For a second I thought I saw my uncle glare at Obadiah. Not that he didn't deserve it, it's just my uncle never glares.  
"Howard!" Obadiah looked ready to pop a blood vessel but uncle stopped him.  
"It's my company and my word is final." Obadiah scowled and then sighed and walked out.  
I looked over at him "I don't think Obadiah is too happy with you" He smiled and laught.  
He placed his hand on my shoulder "I think your right. Now we have one quick stop to make then we'll see what's got you so excited."  
I smiled as we walked to the door "You're going to have you mind blown by my new tech."  
/...  
chapter break  
/...  
On the plain to the earth movers my uncle explained to me the stories about the ring he's so worked up about.  
"Some historians believed that the chines had explorers in the new world far before any Europeans. The archaeological dig site we have in New Jersey, the artifacts were finding proves just that. It's a mystery that has everything to do with the McLuhan Rings.  
"Wow is that boring" I said that but the opposite was true. I loved learning new things even if it was from the past. So smiling my uncle continued.  
"The Chines thought the rings were magic, but from what we're learning I think they actually maybe a form of technology. Imagine Jack technology ten times as advanced as we have today but hundreds if not thousands of years old." He looked down at the ring on his finger, thinking.  
I blinked once and lifted my head off my hand "for a man who's shaping the future of the world your hobbies are really old-school." He smiled and laught.  
"Ok. Take a look smart guy there's your genus at work down there." He said looking out the window and what I saw amazed me.  
The earth mover M.K. I stood ten stories high on six legs. It slowly moved across a giant area of flat dirt.  
"A hard light laser acts as a scapula and the targeting system you invented makes clean quick cuts into the earth. Combine that with real time seismograph readings the earth mover will not only revolutionize archaeology, but imagine the benefits for disaster relief, collapsed builds and tunnels, your invention will save lives Jack."  
Smiling to him from across the platform "It also mad your last invention look like a fourth grade science project." Leaning on the rail I looked over the land as the earth mover cut clean holes into the earth without disturbing the stone statues that lie beneath the sand.  
"Yeah and that's Why I'm grounding you for a month!" This took a good 5 seconds before I reacted  
"Wait What!" I yelled over to him standing as straight as a board. And to my utter amazement he laughs.  
"You're so easy it's not even fun."  
"Howard." Said a man, I think his name is Adam, walked up to us with a box. As he approached dad took off the ring and gave it to the man.  
"Wait! You're giving up your magic rig?" I asked in astonishment.  
"Only for the day. We're doing a comparison of it and the artifacts found here." He said as we walked down the platform.  
"The more we know about it, the better the chance at unlocking the rings secrets."  
Finally back on the plain "Ok genus, let's get to the testing grounds and see what you got."  
As I sat down to tell him about the suit I built a hologram of Trish appeared on the table.  
"Yes Trish?" Uncle asked.  
"Sorry sir. Its stain again. He insists on talking to you."  
A grim look took a hold of him "its ok Trish put him through." He leans back as Trish disappeared, and rubbed his head. "I think I'm going to have to let Obadiah go. He's become obsessed with weapons."  
I look at his with a smirk "a million dollars says he's going to ask about the earth movers again."  
He smirked back "you’re on."  
As I got up from my set "I'm going to head back and make sure everything is ready before we land." As I walked by I put my hand on his shoulder as a sign of good luck.  
"Howard. I want to talk to you about the earth mover deal."  
I grind ear to ear "Hurray I'm Richer."  
"I'm giving you one last time to approve this Howard."  
"Well I'm just going to have to refuse one last time then." After that the door closed separating the back of the plain from the front. This was mainly the cargo hold and had big boxes stacked around the area. One long metal container was what drew my attention. The box with my latest creation in it.  
I walked up to it and opened the main access panel to reveal the keypad. A four digit number made from a 9 digit pad. As I typed in the last numbers I heard a loud noise from the front of the jet. As I turned around I saw a bright light and then nothing.  
/...  
Chapter break  
/...  
A jet smashed into the ground in the desert not too far from a large metal object. A large creature stud next to it. Its skin made of shifting metal and one of its arms in the form of some kind of weapon. Its most prominent feature a purple insignia on its arm. Looking over the wreckage it turned away and started running north toward a small cite only a few miles away.  
A crash came from within the jet. Then another closer to the right side wing. Then Jack crawled out from the wreck. He was slumped over and slowly moving. He was covered in shrapnel from head to toe and a large piece of metal ran from his back to the center of his chest. He cradled his left arm to his chest below the end of the metal. It only went a couple of inches past his elbow. The rest was gone. Jack was mumbling things under his breath as he slowly moved away from the plain.  
"-Not going to die, I'm not going to die here, I am not going to die now!"  
Yelling the last part as he reached an object some 30 feet away from the plain. The rest of his left arm. Reaching out with his right hand he griped his other arm and taped the watch on his wrist. A blue colored display popped up on a hologram. It asked for an order.  
"Hoffer clan authorization, Alfa code, Darby 3" A green light blinked at the top of the hologram.  
"Welcome Jack-" slamming his hand down on the watch the start up was skipped.  
"Open suit interface" a red light popped up opening a new menu on the hologram.  
"Start pilot protection program, Take-take me to Rhodey…" he slowly slumped forward into the ground. As the watch slowly turned its self-off. A boom was heard at the back of the plain as a black metal being walked out of the fire in the cargo hold of the plain and made a bee line for the boy.  
/...  
Jack's P O V  
/...  
Everything felt like it was on fire. My missing arm, my chest and heart. I slumped into the dirt and waited for my death. This was it. It was all over. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and everything blurred but, I saw something above me.  
"Pilot status, critical. Suit on board protection systems activated." I blinked and everything was black for a short time. Longer than my eyes being closed. When I could see again the suit was scanning me looking for something. Damage assessment part of my mind said but I couldn't focus on it. Then it went black again.  
Then I was in the suit. The screen and HUD blinked on showing the crash site and Information started to scroll by faster than my brain could process right now.  
"Pilot seeking immediate medical attention. Deep layer protocols activated" everything went black after that.  
/...  
Chapter break  
/...  
A black object flew across the sky over Nevada. If you looked closely it looked almost like a human made out of metal. It looked almost peaceful on the outside but on the inside it was very different.  
The suits HUD switches from showing the sky around it and goes black closing the screen and images pop up on the HUD  
"Warning, Power at 68.6%, all systems impaired. Warning, user in need of immediate medical attention, switching to core function mode. Life support priority. Warning, deep layer protocols engaging."  
An image of the user, me, appears on the left side of the screen, and an image of his bone structure appears on the right side. Almost immediately red areas appear, showing damage. Most prominently His left arm.  
"Warning, Left arm severed, Right arm shattered in seven areas. Left leg crushed, Right leg snapped in three places. Right shoulder bone dislocated. Three cracked ribs above the left lung, damage to the third, fourth, fifth, seventh, ninth, and twelfth vertebrae. Attempting to heal damage."  
A Beep is heard and the image of the body closes in on the chest area.  
"WARNING, User heart failure imminent. Collapsed left lung, blood filed right lung. Warning meager damage to heart, damage unrepairable. Attempting work around solution."  
Images start to appear on the screen rapidly. Some are of medical tool, other advanced technology. An image stops dead center screen. A White see through ring surrounds the heart in the image.  
"Attempting Repair."  
There is a sharp stabbing pain in my chest then black surrounds me.  
/...  
Jack's P O V  
/...  
The first thing I feel, when I wake up inside the suit, is an intense pain in my heart. Then the sounds outside the suit start to sink in. I try to open my eyes but I'm just too tired too.  
"What is that!?"  
"It looks like a man"  
The sound of doors opening and carts and people moving.  
"Someone call Dr. Yorotakagi"  
"I already did. He's getting ready for surgery."  
The sounds of metal scraping metal and then the feel of cold air inside the suit. A gasp is heard.  
"Oh gods"  
"Is he even alive?"  
I can feel someone touch my right arm. Holding my wrist and count.  
"It's faint but he's got a pulse. Hurry we may be able to still save him"  
I can feel them remove me from the suit but that's it. I drift back into helpless blackness.


	2. "The beginning of a new life"

September 3, 2011  
05:59 eastern standard time  
New York city, New York, America  
Jack's P O V  
/  
/  
My room was completely dark this early in the morning, but I didn't care. I could still see. I sat on the bed with my left arm over it. My hand touching the heart implant as it glowed under my shirt.  
It felt like so long ago that my arm was gone.  
/  
FLASHBACK  
/  
Bright Lights, Pain all over. People talking, blurred lights appear  
"He's losing a lot of blood here."  
"…we need to find the clot….he's going…death"  
"He's thrashing! Grab him…..God damn it, hold him down"  
"My uncle, where is, is he?"  
"Jack? It me, Dr. Yorotakagi. I am trying to help but I can't with you thrashing around like that."  
"doc.? No, no where is my, my…my uncle…where?"  
"Jack I'll tell you once you're out of the ER."  
"Tell ME!...where is he? What's going on? Why, why what was that thing, the plain?"  
"Jack…"  
"Please, please, where…Where is my uncle?"  
"He didn't…."  
/  
END FLASHBACK  
/  
My alarm going off brought me out of my dream, just in time to hear a soft nock on my door.  
"Jack you awake?" said Mrs. Rhodes asked from the other side of the door.  
"Yeah!" I yelled through the door as I sat up on my bed.  
"Breakfast is ready" She said as she opened the door and walked over to my bed.  
'Thanks Mrs. Rhodes. I'll be right there." I say as she sits next to me on the bed.  
"James is already down stairs. Once you finish eating, you and James will head over to Hoffer corp. Then he'll take you to school for you to start your first day of high school."  
I felt her hand on my shoulder and looked up from the spot on the floor I had been staring at.  
"It's going to be ok Jack. You'll see."  
"Yeah ok." I said as I got up off the bed and walked out of the room.  
/...  
Chapter break  
/...  
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Rhodey said next to me caring his backpack over his shoulder. He had a concerned look on his face. I rolled my eyes at him.  
"Yes Rhodey I need to meet with stain so I can ask him questions about all of my research." I said as we stopped at a red light only two blocks from the Hoffer corporations building.  
"No not that. I mean I am worried about that, but I meant you moving out so soon. You just got out of the hospital last week." The light turned green and we walked across with people moving past us in both directions.  
"A hospital that I was stuck in for almost an entire year, watching the world move by around me. Yes I'm sure I'm ready to move to my new apartment. You mom was less worried than you about this and she's my legal guardian." I looked over at him with a smirck.  
"You need to stop before you get gray hairs, Bro." He gave me that look again. The look that screams 'I will kill you and dump your body some ware no one will find it'.  
"Excuse me for looking out for your skinny ass." He says as a sudden laugh pops into my head.  
'Hahahahaha he said ass.' Said my guardian, Axle. As he slowly woke.  
'Shut up I'm trying to sleep over here.' We both stop after hearing Rhodey's guardian, Drack speak to mine.  
"Well they finally woke up." Rhodey said as we start walking again.  
"Yeah. I thought they would have woken up from this morning's breakfast." That got a grunt from them and a laugh from Rhodey.  
"Ha guessed wrong on that."  
/...  
Chapter break  
/...  
"Can you check again? I have an appointment." A say to the front guard as police sirens go off in the background. The gourd was of average height with brown hair and what looked like brown eyes behind orange tinted glasses.  
"And you said your name was?" he said in a bored voice.  
"Jack, Jack Darby Hoffer." I said for the third time. Rhodey seemed to have had enough of the guard though.  
"Yeah you know, as in Hoffer Corporation? The company you work for." He said pointing at the building behind them.  
'Can I just rip out his throat? No one would miss this Shit head.' Drack asked with a snarl. Rhodey made no outside show of it but he seemed to agree.  
"Yeah they say they have an appointment with Mr. Stain. Says his name is Darby Hoffer. Ah, ah, ah. You can go up." The guard final said with a thumb up pointing to the top of the building.  
"Finally.' Rhodey said throwing his hands up into the air and walking forward only to be stopped by the guard again.  
"Not you. Just him" he said pushing Rhode's back.  
"What?! Uh come on." He was pissed.  
'I'll hit him if he touches you again. ' said Drack as I put a hand on his shoulder.  
"It's ok Rhodey." I move my hand when he starts to come down from his anger. He pulled me back a little.  
"You absolutely sure you're up for this." He asked with worried eyes  
"Yeah. Hey it's still my family company right?" I said looking up at the building.  
/...  
Chapter break  
/...  
The ride up in the elevator with the guard was tense to say the least. Once the doors open I was tempted to run out but the guard had my arm in his grip. And we slowly walked across the lobby I noticed something strange. There was barley anyone around. It was Quiet and dark.  
'Were are all the people?' Asked Axle through are bond. I didn't have an answer for him. But something caught my attention.  
"Trish?!" I said looking at the girl at the front desk. She looked up as I moved my hand but was grabbed by the guard.  
"Mr. Stain will see you now Jack." She said looking back down at her keyboard.  
I shook off the guards hand and walked to the office door. It opened with a hiss. At the only desk in the room sat Obadiah Stain. Talking to someone over the phone.  
"No that's Right. I want them brought up to the specs the military sent over. You have my permission as head of the company." I heard the call drop as I got to the desk and Stain turned around.  
"What's going on Obadiah?" I asked as I sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk.  
"What are you doing-" he cut me off.  
'Jack, Jack, Jack. Don't worry about it. Hoffer corp. is in good hands. Nothing you need to worry about. I'm so sorry we didn't have more time to talk after your uncle's funeral. It hit us all so hard." He said all of this without looking me in the eyes. The man wasn't even looking in my direction.  
"But, you have my word I will personally take care of everything until you are legally ready to step back in or till one of your other siblings wants too." That got me mad.  
"I want to be involved. My family built this company and they would want-" He cut me off again! The nerve.  
"This is what your family wanted, Jack. They wanted you living with the Rhode's, Going to school, being a normal kid."  
"I want all of my research and my Uncles notes and-" I'm so going to hit him if he interrupts me again!  
"Everything you and your Uncle worked on are Hoffer corp. property. This is a business after all not your personal play ground." A hologram popped up on the right side off the desk.  
"Mr. Stain? Your next appointment is here." Trish said from the other side.  
"As always lovely seeing you again Jack. And I'll see you again when you turn eighteen." He said with a board look on his face. His hand out stretched waiting for a hand shake. That's when I saw it.  
He had uncles ring on. His most priced object in the whole world and this guy was wearing it.  
/...  
Chapter break  
/...  
'Calm down, Jack. Jack! Hay I know you can hear me!' axle keep saying in my head but I was beyond pissed at this-this Bull shit that Stain was giving me. The doors opened with a whoosh and I saw Rhodey standing nearby.  
"Hey! How did it-" he never finished his sentence.  
I threw my backpack on to the ground then kicked it hard. It hit the stop sign on the other side of the road.  
'Shit.' Said Drack.  
"Never mind."


	3. First day of school

Disclaimer

I do not own Transformers, Transformers Prime, Iron man, Iron man 2, Iron man 3, Skyrim, or any other characters from their own realms of games, movies, Book, comics, or other media.

/...

/...

/...

"Look at it this way. In two years you get to fire him." Rhodey told me as we walked on the side walk in front of the school. I was still mad at Stain but we were already going to be late so it didn't matter.

"It'll be worth the wait." He said smiling at me. I appreciated that he was trying to cheer me up but my head just wasn't ready for it.

"Do we have to do this, this school thing? Can't we just ditch or something? I can show you the garage I've been fixing up." I asked as we entered the school.

"No chance. If my mom found out we skipped you're first day at school, she would crush us. She is a lawyer after all." Rhodey said with a small smile as we walked through a long hall.

"Why would my Uncle want me to go to school? It doesn't make any sense. I mean he taught me everything I would need to-" I was interrupted by a girl in an orange sweater and blue jeans walking into me and Rhodey.

"Ops!" she said going into a fit of giggles as she walked away from us.

"Yeah-know, this school thing may not be such a bad thing after all. I should give this a try." Rhodey grabbed me by my book bags strap and pulling me down the hall as the bell rang.

/….

First period

/….

A man in a light grey suit with matching pants, wrote on a white board with a black marker. He was leaning in closely to the board as he wrote a long math equation. His brown eye's hidden behind large glasses stood out on his face with his grey hair slowly reseeding behind his head.

"What you're looking at here is widely thought to be the hardest math equation in the world and has yet to be solved. Eh, what we are doing today is far less difficult, and-" I interrupted him with my hand up.

"Sir?" I waited till I had his full attention on me. Slowly leaning to the left as Rhodey gawked at me in his chair next to me.

"42?" the teacher pulled down his glasses and looked back at the board.

"Ah, yes, yes Mister Darby you are correct."

/….

Second period

/….

"…but when it comes to super conducting transitioning temperatures, that's when the physics of solid state matter-" I interrupted the teacher after I flipped through my 'new' science book for the third time and I use the term, new, as in I just bought it and not in the fact its almost 5 years old. In the world of science 5 years is like a hundred years in anything else.

"Professor? Do you have any other physics books? Mine seems to be a little out of date." As I finished talking Rhodey moved his desk to the right by about a foot. This had Happy Hogan in a fit of silent laughter.

/…

fourth period

/…

I was facing the white board as I finished my explanation of plasma Ions and their energy output when used to conduct power. The image I made of the board was something not unlike a Tesla coil smashed in between a shell and gun-like object. As the bell rang, I finished my calculations on the board and turned around to the class and the teacher.

"…Then the energy pulse gives the system a simultaneously positive and negative charge which allows the generation of, well I named it a Stark charge." Students were getting their books and papers to leave. I the back I could see Rhodey face palm.

"Do you think there is any way you could…go over that again?" asked the teacher with a smile on his face. He wore a blue shirt with a white dress shirt underneath, and blue pants. He rested his head in his right hand.

"Of course sir."

/….

end of seventh period

/….

"What do we have now?" I asked as we walked down a hallway in the school on the west wing.

"This is kind of fun." I say with a smile as we stop in front of some lockers.

"Well I've got English Lit. and you have a free period so just hangout. Relax and check out the roof top if you want. Some of us have lunch up there. And I'll pick you up after class." Rhodey said as he walked away leaving me alone in the hall.

"Yea ok, see you." I looked at the corner Rhodey walked around with a frown.

"Later."

The sound of closing doors and distant walking the only sound in the air. i was suddenly reminded Rhodey was my only friend in the school.

well he said to check out the roof. maybe someone is up there.


End file.
